Rise
by petitprincess
Summary: We all know that Equestria is a place filled with harmony and ruled over by the fair monarchs of the kingdom, but what if that all changed? What if three tyrants killed Celestia and crippled Luna? What fate holds for the ponies in Equestria? What fate holds for our heroine, Twilight? Warning: Very dark, and there will be violence in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know need to update my other stories, but this idea came to my head after i saw a PMV called Rise. It's a song by the band Skillet. It was an amazing PMV, it was also a good concept. So, i thought i'd make a story. So, i guess i give credit to TheDanielsaur for making that awesome video. I suggest you guys to watch it. Well, i hope you enjoy.**

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It's hard to say how long this has been going on; some say this is the way it's been for centuries, but I don't believe that. I believe this world was different, fresher, and more harmonic. You don't know what I'm talking about? Well, I guess I'll try to explain as well as I can. Ahem. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. Wait. You know this story? So, you know about the sisters getting a chunk of their kingdom taken away and the different tyrants spreading darkness across the land. No. Where have you been? I guess in a nutshell, there were three oppressors that banned together to take down the regal sisters. Not many saw this as a threat, but lo and behold they killed the eldest and crippled the youngest. Even with their royal guards, they were still overpowered.

So, the oppressors took three-fourths of the land, leaving the young princess with the worthless one-fourth of the land. We used to live in Canterlot and some of us in Ponyville, but know we live in the Badlands. This place is literally filled with nothing but dirt and rocks. It's still surprising that we manage to live a…okay life here. We manage to hold enough natural resources to restore and build our houses, we have enough water to last us a whole year, and now we have food to last us months. I know the food shortage sounds bad, but my troops will be back with more food. Anyway, that's really our life here it sounds alright but, it's actually quite tough. During the winter, we're forced to stay inside our houses because the Windigos are always causing us to ice over. I remember we lost about 20 ponies that day and to make it worse…we couldn't burry them. The good news (kind of morbid but, still good) is we had enough "wood" to make fires. But, that's not the worse part. The tyrants are always coming over to our land to demand resources, even though they know we're short. They're always so pushy!

"TWILIGHT!"

Speaking of pushy, I have to go.

* * *

I closed my diary and set down the quill on my desk. Once again I hear the shrill cry, "TWILIGHT!"

I only groaned in annoyance. I knew those screams and I've always hated them, luckily they only visit annually. By the way, my name's Twilight Sparkle, just in case you couldn't tell. I used to be the protégé to Princess Celestia before her passing; well I wasn't really truly able to be her student because I was only able to enjoy it for week, before she died. Anyway, now I'm the servant to Luna, Celestia's sister. I know it seems like I got demoted, but it's not her fault, it's illegal for us to have an education. Take a wild guess on who you think passed that law. As I was saying, it's not that bad that I'm her servant. She's really nice and she secretly studies magic with me in the catacombs. We like to go there so Celestia can enjoy endeavors as well, in spirit of course. Hopefully, we don't sound crazy. "**TWILIGHT, COME HERE!**"

I hear my name get shouted once again, in the speaker above me. Using my magic, I levitated the funnel down to me and shouted, "I heard you the first time!"

I doubt they heard me or even cared. I put on my holey cloak, opened my door, and left the confinements of my room. As I descended down the steps inside the tower, I looked out of one the windows and watched some of the workers. A bunch of ponies were gathered outside the back of the castle, awaiting orders from Luna. Whenever the monarchs meet, that always meant more or-rarely-less work for us. From the height I was at I couldn't see, but I could tell that they all were exhausted. We've been gathering food to get ready for this winter; no doubt the tyrants were going to send the Windigos on us again. After a while, I walked down the steps again and got to a wooden with black hinges and doorknob. I took a deep breath and exited the tower and entered the fire. An annoyed voice groaned, "Finally you came, did you not here us calling you name?"

I mumbled, "It was kind of hard not to notice."

"Excuse me!"

"Nothing at all, Queen Chrysalis," I finished with a bow. I looked up and saw the three monarchs just glaring at me. I just glowered back, they all knew I hated them, and so there was no point in hiding it.

Let me introduce the monarchs: The first is Queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis. She's really stubborn and hot tempered, so I have to watch what I say and do around her. She owns small parts of Equestria like Canterlot, Stablemark, Equestria Kingdom, Germaney, Saddle Arabia, and a few others. Next to her is King of the Crystal Empire, Sombra. There's not much to say about him; he has this dark mysterious aura about him that me shudder every time I go near him. He not only owns the Crystal Empire, he also owns Haypan, Chineigh, Manezuela, French Ponynesia, Prance, and other countries. The last one is a draconequus name Discord. He's nothing but a trickster. He likes to pull pranks and by "pranks" I mean drying riverbeds and causing earthquakes at any random moment. This is someone you definitely don't want to mess with, because he can change all reality with literally a snap of his talon. Anyway, he owns all of Amaneica, parts of Mexicolt, Ponyville, and half of Caneighda. I actually try not to exasperate Discord; I'm still surprised that he still allowed us to live in Amaneica, so I don't want him to lead us to exile.

"So Twilight, have any idea where you beloved Princess is at? She's not sulking about her sister's death again is she," Discord asked rather dryly. Getting out of my train of thought, I answered, "No, your majesty. I don't know where Princess Luna is. Also, shouldn't she be allowed to be depressed? It's the two year anniversary of her passing," I elucidated as I walked over to the side of Luna's seat. The meeting room wasn't much of a sight. The walls were made of broken gray granite blocks (bits of moonlight seeped from the cracks), the purple holey drapes covered dirtied windows, the table is a stone tablet held up by stone slabs, and the chairs were crafted from the few trees we could find. Yep, nothing special, but it was at least a roof over our heads. Sombra chuckled at my answer, "Of course not, she should be used to it by now. I mean, it's not like it was a big secret that she held animosity for her sister. So, she should be happy that she's now princess of her own kingdom, or whatever it is you call this slave drive."

I bit my tongue to hold back a few obscenities I had for him. She told me about the jealousy she had for her sister, but she regrets holding it because she believes that's what held her back from protecting her sister. So, she doesn't feel she deserves the title of princess, but she certainly doesn't own a "slave drive". Buck you, Sombra! "Well, she better get here quickly," Chrysalis changed the subject, "we all have our own kingdoms to run, you know."

"I know, you mention that every meeting. Every. Single. Meeting," I say with great animosity. Chrysalis slammed her hooves on the table and got ready to shout at me, but got distracted by the double doors behind her opening. I beamed brightly at Princess Luna, who smiled weakly back at me. I looked at her back, which used to hold wings and only swallowed sadness. I can only imagine the pain she had at getting them removed. She walked over to me, I pulled out her chair, and she sat down, and began the meeting. She started, "I would like to apologize for being late, I was…busy with personal business. Although, I am confused as to why you called a meeting his early, especially since you know we're busy harvesting our resources because of winter closing in."

You know, she has a point. I narrowed my eyes, what're they up to. The three monarchs all gave each other malicious smile, and Discord began, "Well, we called this meeting to bring up a certain _issue_ that's been happening in our dominions."

"And, what would that be?" Luna inquisitively asked.

"Thieves!" The three exclaimed. My eyes widened as well as Luna's, but I think hers did for a different reason. Her shock expression soon turned into frustration. She fumed, "This again! This is the third time you tyrants brought this up! If you honestly _think_ my subjects would do a thing as stealing, well you couldn't be further from the truth. They care for everypony in all of Equestria, even in your dominions! Tell me, what makes you think we'd steal anything!?"

Right after she said that, Discord snapped his fingers and after a blinding flash of light, on the table revealed two tied up ponies from out area. One had an orange coat, an olive-yellow mane and tail styled in a ponytail, sap green eyes, three freckles on each cheek, and three red apples as her cutie mark. The other one had a cerulean coat, ruby red eyes, a rainbow colored mane and tail, and a red-blue-yellow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud as a cutie mark. The Princess's jaw dropped. I only bit my lip. How did they get caught? She asked, "Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack, what is the meaning of this?"

The two only looked at each other in silence and then looked at me. Luna looked down at me and raised her brows in surprise. I opened my mouth to speak, but she raised her hoof to silence me. She looked back up at the monarchs and asked, "What have they been stealing?"

Chrysalis answered, "Our food, Luna."

"Only because we have nothing here, if we were gonna survive the winter, this was the only way!" Rainbow shouted, "You three keep hogging all the food to yourself, meanwhile we're near starvation."

AJ put in, "As much as ah was agains' this operation, ah 'ave ta agree wit' Rainbow. Why are y'all keepin' tha food to yerself? It jus' ain't fair."

Discord responded, "Well, it only makes sense. We've numerous amounts of countries to feed, which is about over a million ponies. Meanwhile, you only have your few thousand maybe hundred."

"Well, if you were kept in a dry and abandoned desert without any supplies to fulfill your needs, then how else would you react? You are the ones who droves up to this," I retorted back. "It's not our fault if you greedy ponies can't just learn to share," Chrysalis mocked. The three went into a thunderous laughter, which sent my blood boiling. How dare they treat us like we're nothing!? Those pieces of-UGH! I looked over at Luna who just had her head hanging down. She knew she couldn't really do much, it only worsen the penalty they'll give her, plus there's three against one (no doubt she'll want me, AJ, and Rainbow to flee) so there's no point in fighting. She asked quietly, "How much do we owe you?"

The three plainly said, "One-fourth of your resources."

I gasped, "But, that'll barely make us through the whole winter! You can't-"

"Watch us," Sombra countered. The monarchs got up from their seats and started walking away. I don't know what happened after that, the only thing I remember is that all I saw was red, and then the next thing is that I see a gaping hole in the wall between Chrysalis and Sombra. He snarled in anger. His horn shined a black aura and he summoned a tentacle out of the ground that wrapped tightly around my neck. I hacked and coughed when I felt my windpipe getting slowly crushed. He walked up to me slowly and hissed in my ear, "Don't you _ever_ attack me again, you **filthy peasant!**"

When he was done, he smacked me with his hoof; I slammed into the table, and blacked out.

* * *

When I awoke, I was in my bedroom on my cot. I got up quickly and ran down the steps. When I swung open the door, no one was there, but I heard sobbing. I walked out of the meeting room and went down the long hallway until the sound became louder. Once the sobbing became clearer, I used my horn to light my way. I saw Luna in a corner bawling. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me. She only cried even harder. I walked over to her and nuzzled her chin. "Th-they…" She started.

I asked, "What did they say?"

"They said they w-w-want all of our r-resources n-now and they expect them by the end of a-autumn, or else," she whimpered, "or else they'll send the guards to s-s-s-s-slaughter half of our population. Then they said, 'It's not like it ma-matters. You p-ponies won't m-make it anyw-w-way.'"

Once she was done, she cried and hugged me. I only remained silent. This is my fault. If only I kept quiet we would've had a chance and now we have…no! No! I won't give up. I consoled, "Don't cry, Princess Luna. They're only saying that to make us give up hope, but don't fret. I have a plan."

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**Sorry, if this story seems rushed. Also, please address any grammatical errors. I'll also accept criticism flames from this. I don't know if i'll continue this or not, I guess it'll depend if people like it or not. If you guys, i guess i'll ask some friends if they can help me along with this. So, yeah that's all i have to say. Sorry, if some characters were OOC. Anyway, Please Review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from MLP: FiM. **


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, I went out to see how harvesting was going. Each time I walk out I always look around at the small town. The houses were somewhat poorly crafted, they were made out of irregular shaped rocks, the roofs were made out of dried up mud, and there weren't any windows; we didn't have enough glass after some of us unicorns constructed the castle. Although, not many ponies seemed to care or mind, it's not like there's much to look at out here. I also saw the small vendors we have; they weren't selling much, other than tools for fixing the houses or for helping with the harvest. They were selling food this morning, but with the extra work load I guess they had to give away what they had. As I progressed on, A few ponies gave me dirty looks as I was walking, but I just ignored them, even though I secretly knew it was my fault. Well, somepony had to stand up to those nimrods, even if it did cost us; someone had to show that we're not afraid of them. Unfortunately, my pride gets so high that I completely forget that we're nothing but dust in the wind to them. That's all we are and will be.

Anyway, I walked out to the harvesting field, which is located on a mesa on one of the plateaus surrounding our little village. As I walked up I heard a little bit of bickering going on, due to it being so dark out, I couldn't really see who exactly it was. But, unfortunately, their voices were recognizable. A voice shouted, "Ah'm jus' shayin that unicorns shouldn't be in th' fields harvestin'! Ya'll **should** be jus' worryin 'bout yer manes n' coats!"

Once I got up, I saw Applejack arguing with a unicorn that has a purple mane, moderate azure eyes, and a light gray coat. Her cutie mark was three blue diamonds. That was Rarity, one of the scouts in my troop. Rarity snorted, "We unicorns are more helpful than you think. We can create the most intricate substances; we can create new designs for a better world, we-"

AJ interfered, "If ya'll are so helpful, then help me git these crops growin."

"Well, ah…I-I-I don't know how to do that," she ended with a smile. I just rolled my eyes, now I don't know how to do that type of magic either, but she doesn't need to make us look bad. I shouted, "Ahem!"

The two turned to me and exclaimed, "Twilight!"

They stood at attention and raised their hooves to their foreheads. I said calmly, "At ease."

They lowered their hooves and their stature became less stiff. "What's going on? I heard shouting?" I asked even though I already knew the problem. Rarity answered, "We've been trying to find different ways to make the crops grow, due to our extra workload today. But, my magic just, "she levitated up a wilted overgrown celery stalk, "makes the plants die. Oh, this is simply impossible!"

What a drama queen. I was about to make a comment until we heard someone shout, "Well, of course it's impossible!"

We looked up and saw Rainbow Dash fluttering above us; she landed on the ground and continued, "Our, oh so _loyal princess_ should learn how to control the sun instead of just the moon. As crazy as this might sound, maybe the plants would grow a lot faster."

I defended, "Hey! It's not her fault that we aren't allowed to get education!"

"Oh please. We all know that you get secret teachings from her, Twilight!" Rainbow shouted. Not too many ponies know that I get teachings from Luna, and I intend to keep it that way. Anyway, despite what Rainbow Dash said, I just ignored her. I looked down at the small saplings and thought of that instant growth spell I learned. Sure it was just for turning small fillies or colts into mares and stallions, so that they don't killed off, but it could also work for plants. I charged up my horn and shot a beam at the root of one sapling. After a few seconds nothing happened, Rainbow was going to make a _snide_ _comment_, but before she could the ground beneath us began shaking. It didn't take long for a fully grown corn stalk to sprout from the sapling. I turned around and mocked, "Have anything to say Lieutenant?"

She just glared at me and took off into the air. Applejack turned to me and asked, "When are yew two gonna git alon'?"

"When she learns to stand her ground when matters get drastic," I answered matter-of-factly. After I told Rarity on how to do the spell, I went back down the mountain to see how everyone else was doing. As I was walking, I saw a few stallions carrying crates filled with last month's crops and a few jugs of wine. We tried not to give them water because we don't have much of it left, but they don't really mind. They never tell us why, but honestly not many of us care. I also saw a few pegasi and unicorns getting supplies to board up the doors to our houses. It doesn't matter if they board off the entrances, because we all take refuge inside of the castle when the storm hits us.

Off in the distance, I heard a shrill cry. On instinct, I began galloping towards the screaming. I kept a calm composure, but truthfully, I was scared out of my mind. I kind of blame it on Pinkamena for giving me those thoughts of the oppressor's guards watching us, but with all of the disappearances, it scarily makes sense. As I got closer, a mare stopped me in my tracks and calmly said, "Don't worry, Commander Twilight. It's just Fluttershy."

All of the sudden, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. I walked over to a pale light grayish golden coated Pegasus; that has moderate cerulean eyes, pale light grayish rose mane, and a cutie mark that had three butterflies with cyan bodies and pink wings. She was lying on the ground, a hasta in her mouth, gasping in breaths of air. I looked down and saw a squirrel surrounded in a puddle of blood, with a long gash across its stomach, and with its intestines sticking out. I sighed, put my hoof on her mane, and began patting her head. I awkwardly consoled, "It's alright, Fluttershy. It'll be…in a better…place?"

She sobbed, "I-I-I didn't mean t-t-to! I-It was an accident I sw-swear."

I just sighed, "It's fine, Fluttershy. You had no choice; now it's best for you to stop crying."

"Of course it is!" A voice shouted towards us. A trotting dark grayish raspberry coated earth pony came to us; she has straight dark raspberry mane, cloudy pale cerulean eyes, and pony's cutie mark is three party balloons. I seethed through clenched teeth, "Pinkamena, what're you talking about!?"

She stopped right in front of me, got into my face, and whispered, "The guards are watching."

The shy timid mare shook in fear, but I consoled, "Just ignore her; she's coming up with inept theories."

"Call it what you will, but they're watching us. For all you know Commander, they may come after you next," Pinkamena informed me, but I just responded with an eye roll. She scoffed and changed the subject, "Were you able to make the plants grow?"

I answered, "Yes. What about rounding up the kill for the changeling army?"

I looked down at Fluttershy and she answered, "Y-Yeah, we're done. That one," she pointed to the dead vermin, "is the last kill to meet our quota."

The paranoid earth pony fumed, "By the way, great job at making the tyrants' work easier for them."

I exclaimed, "**Excuse me!**"

"Um, girls, maybe, you should c-calm down," the earth-bound Pegasus whimpered, but we disregarded her. Pinkamena went on, "At least they won't have to worry about killing us one by one; **the cold and starvation will finish us**!"

"NO! IT WON'T!" I shouted, unconsciously pulling at Fluttershy's mane, which she just squeaked at the pain. I looked down at the Pegasus and let go of her mane. I took a calming breath and repeated, "No, we'll be fine."

"And how do you know that everything's going to be perfectly fine," Pinkamena asked in suspicion. I cocked an eyebrow smugly, and said, "I have a plan."

"Uh oh," I heard Fluttershy whisper, but I chose to overlook it. The paranoid pony looked at me questionably, but I just shook my head. I wasn't going to tell her anything, not until I can get my troop into one room.

888

"**YOU GOING TO DO WHAT!?**" The five ponies in my coup shouted. I looked at them in annoyance and rubbed my ears due to the pain. I waited for a few seconds so they can calm down and then I repeated, "I'm going to take one of the shipments that-hopefully- have food inside of it and bring it inside of the castle. That way not many of us will die due to starvation. I'm just going to need to find some type of distraction."

Rarity intervened, "Twilight this has to be the most flawed plan you've ever had."

"Not that they weren't before," Rainbow muttered under her breath, even though I could still hear her. I didn't say anything to Rarity; even though I know what she said was true. Anything could make this go horribly wrong; like what if we go slowly that the guards notice, or what if my distraction doesn't wake up from its sleep. The possibilities are endless, but I wasn't going to tell that in front of them. And I'm as sure as Tartaurus that I'm not gonna show my distress. I comforted, "No, my plan isn't flawed. We just need the right team to exploit it. We can't have anyone too boastful or airheaded. The boastful one will celebrate too early and the airhead will just mess everything up."

Applejack laughed, "**Ha ha ha!** Ah guess tha' leaves out Pinkamena n' Rainbow Dash!"

The two just glared at her. I allowed the two to glare, because Applejack isn't any better than both of them combined. I heard someone clear their throat. I turned my head and saw Fluttershy waiting to speak. I queried, "Yes, Fluttershy?"

"I just want to know: What is exactly the distraction?" She asked apprehensively. I walked over to a window inside the castle and looked down at one of the caves. I smiled and giggled, "Don't worry; the diversion will cause a _major_ stir!"

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**I'm really hoping this chapter doesn't seemed too rushed. I just wanted to introduce the other Mane Six and i wanted to show more of the AU. Hopefully I didn't mess up anything. Also, if you're confused about the Mane Six's friendship, this whole chaotic event took place after Rainbow Dash's first sonic rainboom, so the six didn't even meet each other then. But that's also why they still have their cutie marks. Anyway, I hope that you like this chapter. Hopefully, next chapter will be longer. Please leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from MLP: FiM. **


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